Fayette Janitorial Service LLC agreed to pay nearly $650,000 in civil penalties and the court-ordered mandate that it no longer employs minors.
A Tennessee-based sanitation company has agreed to pay more than half a million dollars after a federal investigation found it illegally hired at least two dozen children to clean dangerous meat processing facilities in Iowa and Virginia.
The U.S. Department of Labor announced Monday that Fayette Janitorial Service LLC entered into a consent judgment, in which the company agrees to nearly $650,000 in civil penalties and the court-ordered mandate that it no longer employs minors. The February filing indicated federal investigators believed at least four children had still been working at one Iowa slaughterhouse as of Dec. 12.
U.S. law prohibits companies from employing people younger than 18 to work in meat processing plants because of the hazards.
Half a million doesn’t seem like enough tbh
Honestly when it comes to severe crimes the punishments should put them out of business. Yeah some people will lose their jobs, but suddenly there’s a vacuum that can be filled, and it’s not like the expertise is gone. Someone else can start a better company that doesn’t do illegal shit and fill that vacuum.
Isn’t that how capitalism is supposed to work anyway?
This isn’t a skilled industry, hence why they have children working there. The equipment/facilities is the real value. Unless the government wants to take control or find new management, the jobs are dependent on whoever owns the machines.
Or, just maybe, we close the meat packing plant anyways because everyone should eat less meat.
It’s not even the slaughterhouse. The meat packing plant contracted out to “Ricky’s bone saw cleaning LLC” who is paying the fine for child labor. They might have a few jugs of detergents and sanitizers plus some work vans.
That’s not all, folks! 🐷 This shit runs deep, this is merely the tip of the iceberg. I just can’t wrap my head around children being brought into these places, trained, and then let loose–and no adult along that chain thinks to themselves that maybe there’s a problem with that?!?!?!
From the article:
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One 14-year-old was severely injured while cleaning the drumstick packing line belt at the plant in Virginia, the investigation alleged.
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The agreement stipulates that Fayette will hire a third-party consultant to monitor the company’s compliance with child labor laws for at least three years, as well as to facilitate trainings. The company must also establish a hotline for individuals to report concerns about child labor abuses.
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The Labor Department’s latest statistics indicate the number of children being employed illegally in the U.S. has increased 88% since 2019.
This is all very performative, slap-on-the-wrist level punishment, and i imagine there are hundreds more children out there still working in shit conditions because nobody will say or do anything about it until more injuries/deaths force them to.
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It doesn’t specifically say who these children were, but they were likely migrants because the child labor issue is actually an immigration issue.
https://www.npr.org/2023/05/04/1173697113/immigrant-child-labor-crisis
Interesting. I always pictured people in the meat packing business as having such high moral standards.
OK, that’s a great start!
And the executives are in jail? Right?
Cost of doing business it seems
They won’t be eating white cake tonight.
